Duo's Rat: Fragile Peace
by PinkWhirlWind
Summary: This is set after the MaxwellYuy Peace accord. Duo has just graduated High School, after restarting after the war. He is still mute and Heero is still a little broken, but university awaits and it's a good time.. until President Relena is assassinated.


Duo's Rat

The Fragile Peace

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. The one's I do own don't sell as well as GW, yet :)

Notes: This is planned to be a larger piece. I'm gonna take a vacation from my original fics for a week and just write for the love of it. So... should be a lot of little chapters and scenes this week.

Other parts of this story:

Maxwell-Yuy Peace Acccord: http/ my account there there is Duo's Rat, the Concert story, and Duo's Birthday

Chapter One

They were Duo's friends, but Heero didn't really mind them. Much. At first, maybe, but now they were just... Duo's friends. Heero still knew how to give a stern look, cold blue eyes threatening death by painful means, as he signed, "I do not want to role play. I do not want you to 'roll me a character'."

The girl had pink hair. Cotton candy dipped in neon pink hair, and she grinned completely undeterred by his the blue ice eyes. "Okay," she signed back, "Duo can roll you a character."

"Maxwell," Heero yelled, even more put out that not a sound he could make would bother any of Duo's friends in the slightest. "Tell your friends I do not want to play!"

Duo's head peeked out through the swinging kitchen doors, and he grinned, a blue streak hanging down beside his face. He looked so young to Heero, as if peace had lifted years off of him, and his school even more. Violet eyes rolled and Duo's cheeks filled with air. He looked maybe, nineteen, happy, healthy, and it scared Heero sometimes, how very healthy Duo was. Insecurity, like a gravity he couldn't find without the brainwashing key that Duo could never speak, was dark stewing.

And then there was that smile, toothy and crooked and quickly following it was a warmth in Heero's heart and self. Holding the swinging doors open with his shoulders, Duo signed, "Cassy, I'll play the soldier. Heero's can watch if he wants. Heero, help me set up the barbecue?"

Heero gave Cassy another glare, but she just grinned, which almost made it worse. A slender Japanese man with blue eyes and more genetic and head tinkering than he might actually know about, Heero had been meant as a weapon of destruction, but even the most careful planning goes awry sometimes. This was something of which Heero was well aware. He hadn't planned to become agoraphobic. He hadn't planned on pacing around their apartment, reading books, and waiting.. waiting for something... while Duo got on with his life.

He hadn't planned on the warm rush of happiness he got every time he looked at Duo, either, so sometimes miscalculations could be good things. Duo in a loose blue Hawaiian shirt and perfect tan cotton pants with more pockets than a spacesuit, did things that were never found in Heero's programming before. A sudden flash of Duo on his back, knees bent, no Hawaiian shirt at all, just parted lips and...

Then Duo's shoulder touched his. Maybe it was Duo's scent, so subtle and so very Duo, masculine, but light, a scent that made Heero remember laughter and humanity, that could get Duo so close without getting clobbered.

"Oh, now. You needed help now." Heero reached for the large metal tray of burgers. "How many people are we having over tonight?"

"Ten," Duo signed, "Fifteen, twenty tops, and only for a little bit. I told you some people would be by, right? Remember? Is an important night!"

"It's okay," Heero said, making up his mind that it was important. Duo Maxwell had graduated High School the day before, a year late, but sooner than anyone had expected him too. Duo had a scholarship to university too, physics major with a minor in Deaf history. So they were making maybe fifty burgers and dogs for the twenty max people who were coming, and Heero was going to do the right thing and not panic. He wasn't going to panic.

"I'm still doing it," Heero said, holding the tray as Duo propped open their grill and started laying out feast material. "Everyday."

Duo tucked his chin, looking back at Heero, so full of excitement that he really didn't seem to have his thoughts all in the same launch shoot. He dropped a burger then took the spatula between his teeth so he could sign, "Doing what, Heero-love?"

"The right thing. That's what you told me to do."

"I know, Love. You've always done the right thing. Are you sure you're okay with all these people? We could leave Cassy in charge and skip upstairs for a while?"

"No," Heero said firmly. "I want to stay and play with your friends."

"They can be your friends too, you know. They're not really being rude. It's just the way things are, you know?"

"I don't understand them all the time," Heero said. Once... he'd been faster of mind, he thought, faster and stronger. Once he'd had a purpose. To do the right thing was so... hard to understand. "I love you. I love you very much and that's the right thing."

"Yup," Duo signed, winking, "And I love you too! You're gonna play tonight, the game?"

"Yes. I will play."

Duo threw the last of the burgers into the barbecue. "Sweet," he signed, "Heero! I love you so much! You're perfect, you know? I wouldn't want you to be anyone 'cept who you are."

"Do you read my thoughts," Heero whispered, knowing Duo would hear him clearly.

"Love, I just know you," Duo said, and he leaned close and got as close as they ever got to Duo's voice. Duo's lips brushed over Heero's, his breath soft against them as they moved along perfect slender male lips. He caught the lower lip and sucked softly, then Heero had him, arms strong as Duo remembered them, holding him close, a hand at the base of his head, the most gentle gundanium. Heero's tongue reached for Duo's sliding over familiar places, over the missing tooth that Duo had Trowa had pulled for him on a mission, then around the tongue that danced over his. A kiss is like a song, it rises, blends, falls, and Heero's passion rose as he kissed, his gravity, his reason to be and understanding of what was right flared strong as he held Duo in his arms. Love was always the right thing.


End file.
